Dec 2000 Journal

Newsround

Bundestag plea

Jews in Germany were urged by Germany MPs not to leave the country because of the recent spate of antisemitic attacks. Politicians pledged to make Germany’s Jews feel safe and wanted.

Fund’s shortfall

Out of 220,000 German companies approached for a contribution to the slave labour fund finalised earlier in the year, only 4,200 have agreed to make a payment. Unless the target figure of £3.3 billion is reached, the pledge for immunity against litigation in the US courts may be withdrawn.

Disappearing compensation funds

Funds intended for slave labour survivors may have been embezzled or misapplied after transfer to the Ukrainian and Russian authorities for distribution. Count Otto von Lambsdorff, appointed to negotiate the fund, has ordered an audit.

Slovakian Jewish claims

Proceedings have been issued against Germany by Slovakia’s Jewish community following Slovakia’s exclusion from the recently concluded slave and forced labour agreement. The Jewish Chronicle reports that their claim for £2.75 million largely represents assets confiscated from Jews by the Nazi Slovak state.

Catholic church pays out

One thousand slave labour survivors, exploited by Germany’s Roman Catholic Church during WWII, are to receive payments of £1,500 each, reports The Daily Telegraph. The money will come from the Church’s own compensation fund.

Norway’s tribute

A memorial to Norway’s deported Jews has been unveiled as part of the Norwegian Government’s reparations programme. Sited near the harbour of departure, the memorial has been designed by the British sculptor Anthony Gormley.

‘Japanese Schindler’ honoured

Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat posted in Lithuania in 1940, has been posthumously honoured on the 100th anniversary of his birth. A plaque has been unveiled commemorating Sugihara’s issuing of transit permits to Japan for Jewish families fleeing Poland, saving 10,000 lives.